CM Pinarayi Vijayan signing a supplementary concession with Adani Vizhinjam Port Private Limited.
Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday announced signing a supplementary concession with Adani Vizhinjam Port Private Limited for the Vizhinjam International Port Project. Chaired by CM Pinarayi Vijayan, the state cabinet meeting approved the draft supplementary concession agreement to extend the project period for five years and commission the port by December.
The chief minister stated that an investment of Rs 10,000 crore will be made after the second and third phases near completion by 2028, expanding the port’s capacity to 30 lakh TEU (Twenty-foot Equivalent). The original completion year was set at 2045.
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“This milestone underlines our commitment to comprehensive development & global connectivity,” expressed CM Vijayan in a social media post.
According to a CMO release on Wednesday, after consultations with the legal department and the Advocate General, the cabinet gave its approval for the deal.
We have entered a supplementary concession agreement with Adani Vizhinjam Port PVT LTD on @PortOfVizhinjam to extend the project period for 5 yrs & commission the port by December. As the 2nd & 3rd phases near completion by 2028, an investment of ₹10,000 crore will be made,… pic.twitter.com/WcXrml0F8z
— Pinarayi Vijayan (@pinarayivijayan) November 28, 2024
The project timeline has been extended by five years following COVID-19 delays and natural disasters, including the Ockhi cyclone and floods. The delays have led to a penalty of Rs 219 crore, with Rs 43.8 crore to be paid to Kerala. The rest of the amount will be withheld until 2028. However, if the project isn’t fully completed by then, the state government will collect the withheld amount.
Located on Kerala’s southern coast, the Vizhinjam Port is India’s first transshipment port, and with the arrival of the first maiden ship on July 11, India made its entry into the world port business. The port is expected to rank 6th or 7th across the world.
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To make the firm the largest in the world by 2030, the Vizhinjam Port is strategically important for Adani Ports in entering a market to offer integrated supply chain solutions to shipping lines. The agreement is significant considering Adani Group chairman and billionaire Gautam Adani is currently under scrutiny for alleged corruption and fraud charges involving $265 million in bribes to secure solar power contracts across Indian states.
However, during the ‘trial run’ of a vessel at the port on July 12, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor reminded the Kerala government of its duty to “afford adequate compensation,” to the the local communities whose lives and livelihoods have been affected by the construction of the port.
He said that while the United Democratic Front-led state government sanctioned a rehabilitation package of Rs 475 crores in 2015 that was set to be disbursed in 5 years, since the Left Democratic Front (LDF) came to power in 2016, the promise has not been fulfilled yet.
